"The choice is yours," Levi explained, "You can trust yourself, or you can trust the people willing to put their lives on the line for you," giving Eren a whole new perspective. "I'm with you!" he called out to Levi as they passed an ambush.
"Fire!" Erwin called out, and all at once, every line was fired into the Female Titan at once, grounding her in place now.
"Wait, what? You're hoping to take her alive? Seriously?" Eren spoke his thoughts.
"So what do you think of us now, Eren? You made us outsmart the damn thing!" Gunther called out behind him.
As Erwin was posted up on the tree, Levi and Elysia eventually joined him, "She's not putting up much of a fight," Levi commented, to which he was told not to let his guard down and commended for leading her in their direction by Erwin.
"We couldn't have without the rear contingent whose lives bought us time. This belongs to them and I don't plan to ever forget that."
"Is that so?" Erwin spoke, looking ahead.
"Yes. Because of their sacrifices, we can expose who this really is."
"I admire how much you remember those we've lost." Elysia spoke, receiving a thank you from Levi as he continued.
"Ten to one, they're in there pissing themselves right about now." Levi began to speculate, as he usually did while waiting. He was never one to sit back and wait. He constantly had to calculate what could go wrong and ensure that didn't happen, either.
"Oh, shit." Elysia mumbled to herself, putting two and two together. The only person would actually be capable of doing this was Annie Leonhart. She appeared out of nowhere, wasn't actually from any of their cities, and she was also blonde. She was calculated and cold-hearted enough. She kept her distance and this must have been why. She was distant enough from everyone to kill Sawney and Bean.
"Elysia, I don't want you near her," Erwin finished.
"So what are you expecting me to do, just watch Levi do his thing and pray nothing happens to him?!" but was silenced once Levi placed his hand on her head.
"I'll be okay. I promise." he reassured her and leaned in to give her a kiss. Erwin rolled his eyes and walked away from them.
Levi replaced his blade, but was told by Erwin to hold on for more insurance, calling out the second and third waves of the attack and the machines began firing at the Female Titan.
"Second and third waves, fire!" Erwin called out, and deployed more lines to hold the Titan in place as well as shells to weaken her, since the more she had to heal, the more stiff her joints would become.
Levi and Erwin jumped, aiming for the Female Titan's nape, but some hardening had come over the hands, and it had actually broken their new blades instead.
"What the hell is that supposed to be? Some kind of hardening?" Elysia spoke to herself as she observed from the top where the boys had left her. Unfortunately, she had to sit this one put, as per Erwin's orders. She didn't want to upset him over this, considering the predicament she was in…
The previous night…
"Oh my God!" Elysia yelled.
"Shh…not so loud." He reminded her and began to go more gently.
"Nobody's home… and your tongue just feels so good…"
"I know baby," he agreed, leaning his head in again.
"Ugh, fuck, Levi. Right there. Please don't stop." she spoke but just then, and he listened to her as best he could, Erwin had walked through the door.
"OH MY GOD!" Both Erwin and Elysia screamed as Levi moved to cover and clean his face.
"Erwin, I thought you said you'd have been out until the night fell…" Levi admitted.
"So you ravage my sister in the living room?" He said, covering his eyes to head to his own room.
"W-Well we didn't mean to start right here…I guess I couldn't control myself for a moment." Levi tried to excuse them.
"I find that very hard to believe, considering the fact that you two have been together for how long? And this never happened before, so…if you'll excuse me, I'll be upstairs, packing my things. It's about time I return to the castle. There's no need for me to live here anymore. She has you." he spoke, and Levi nodded in agreement.
"Erwin, that's not true. You're my brother, I'll always need you." Elysia repulsed the notion.
"But I will not stand in Levi's way, Elysia. You know that. He has claimed you, in this home. It is time for me to take my leave." Erwin explained to her, Levi nodded again, knowing that he had gotten the message meant to be delivered.
Even though she loved her brother, her love for Levi burnt differently. It was a yearning she couldn't smother in any way. It burnt through her.
So with that, she stopped talking and focused more on her dress, to ensure nothing was out of place and something showed by accident and made her way up to her own room, to take a nap. Levi began to clean, as usual and she wasn't going to get in his way.
Miche made his way up to Erwin, who was up in the branches with Elysia again, as he showed his blades, also broken.
An impressive ability, Erwin began thinking to himself, So she can harden her skin to protect portions of her body. Similar to the one that rushed wall Maria, the Armored Titan, I believe they called him. But how many blade strokes until we begin to chip our way through?
He raised his hand and called over a soldier, ordering an artillery strike to blow off her hands at the wrists.
Levi made his way to the Female Titan, standing on her head. "Knock, knock," he begun to speak to her, "We know you're in there. Why don't you make this easy and come on out, stop wasting our time."
He looked over at his girlfriend, who was already watching him intently, "Seriously, what can you hope to gain by stalling? If you're thinking we'll let you go, we won't. If you're thinking of escaping, don't. All you should be thinking about are the good men you killed today, and you're getting in my way of taking my girlfriend out on the town, so just surrender now. Not that you would. That's not your style, is it? Remorse. You enjoy killing." He took a few steps on her head and looked over at Elysia for a moment once again, "Which means," he began again looking back at the Female Titan, "Which means we have something in common. Of course, I enjoy killing titans, but it's a start. I'm sure we can still find some middle ground. Oh, that's right. While we're on the subject, let me ask: you're okay with me cutting your limbs off at the joints, right? I mean, they'll grow back. I'm talking about your actual body…we don't want you dead, just yet. The timing wouldn't work."
Almost immediately, the Female Titan parted her lips, startling Levi, and began to scream. Elysia wanted to get to Levi, but she was ordered to stay away by Erwin, plus Erwin used his arm to block her from getting to him.
Levi held one of his ears as she stopped screaming, "Nicely done. I almost lost my composure."
Miche came up to Erwin, and Elysia stepped aside, not wanting to be near the man. "They're coming, I can smell them."
"From what direction?" Erwin asked him.
"From every direction. Fast. Dozens." Miche answered him.
Erwin looked shocked, Was this her doing? he wondered to himself as he looked at the Female Titan. Pulling out his sword and pointing toward the machines, "Start up the artillery strike!" he ordered, realizing that there was no more time left to lose.
"Flag a defense squad, intercept now!" Erwin ordered, and the squad rallied up to attack the Titans, but the Titans ignored them and continued rushing forward. What were they going after?
"Captain Levi!" one of the squad members yelled out as Levi begun to hit the Titan with his foot, "Hey, what did you do?! You called up some friends, didn't you?!" he spoke to the Female Titan.
"Levi, watch out!" Elysia called out, and he looked forward, readying his blade to immediately attack the oncoming Titans, obviously not wanting them near her.
Seeing a Titan begin to bite the Female Titan startled Erwin, It ignored us and wait straight for her?!
"All hands, commence combat! Protect the Female Titan at all costs!" Erwin called out.
Elysia readied her blade and immediately began to do her job, just as everyone else was doing. Erwin stood back and watched, perplexed by what was taking place before him, "All hands, withdraw!" Erwin yelled out, not wanting to risk any lives being lost in the process, "Redeploy the formation! Return to Karanes District!"
Everyone pulled back up into the trees to catch their breath.
"We've been bested." Erwin spoke.
"To hell with you, Erwin." Elysia replied, replacing her blade and ready to go again. But she didn't move.
Levi wiped blood off of his face before looking at Erwin, "Don't give me that crap! Not now, not yet!"
"Think about it. The enemy was prepared to make sacrifices, enormous ones. So committed to maintaining her secret that she would rather let herself be cannibalized than exposed." Erwin reasoned.
"That whole song and dance in the courtroom and this is what we have to show for it. We scurry back now with our tails between our legs, Eren's right back in chains, or worse." Levi pointed out.
"We can't keep going, can we? Will she even let us return?" Elysia added.
"We'll jump off that bridge when we come to it, right now our only concern is getting back without sustaining further casualties, however we can." Erwin explained his thoughts.
"I'll gather up my squad. You, with me." Levi spoke, gesturing to Elysia and she nodded.
"Not yet, Levi." Erwin aborted his actions, "First replenish your blades and your fuel. You as well, Elysia."
"I can deal with what I've got, we're running against the clock as it is. Why?"
"Because I said, now that's an order. Elysia, you do the same, as I mentioned before."
"Whatever you say, Sir." Levi agreed and looked on ahead, "I trust you implicitly. And with that, he took off with Elysia, holding her in his arms, and kissing her. She wrapped her arms around him, becoming fully engulfed in his lips.
Hearing that warmed Elysia's heart. She was so happy that Levi and Erwin got along this way now, as it wasn't always so.
Five years ago…
She brought her horse to a stand-still, the rain pouring down around them. She looked everywhere, the limbs or various Scout members scattered about.
But she could hear screams in the distance, about a klick away and it didn't sound like anyone she'd known, "That's Levi, isn't it, Starlight?" she'd asked her horse, receiving a snort in return. She was looking high in the direction of the screams, so it must have been something. She spurred her horse into a gallop toward the screams, hoping to get there before it was too late, "Please don't let anything happen to him..." she spoke her prayer aloud.
But by the time she'd arrived, Levi was the only one standing, with a titan corpse decomposing right next to him. She quickly got off her horse and ran right up to him, scooping him into her arms, "I'm here," she reassured him, "I'm here. You did so good. You did good."
"They're dead..." he spoke gently, his voice breaking.
"They fought hard, I know that."
"I take it, you're the sole survivor?" Erwin spoke before a faint smile came across his lips, "You're a sorry sight."
Elysia, who was holding Levi, begun to hold him down, but she wasn't strong enough to keep him bound. Once free, he grabbed his blade and aimed it at Erwin's neck, but Erwin caught the blade with his bare hands, because what else would he have done in that moment? Elysia screamed at the blade coming up to her brother in such a way.
"You smug bastard. I'm gonna kill you! That's been my goal this whole damn time!" Levi spat, his words piercing Elysia deeply. Erwin was her brother, she couldn't imagine that the man she was falling in love with wanted to kill her brother. But that's what she was hearing.
"Levi, please." She spoke, but was cut off by Erwin throwing a scroll.
"I take it you're the sole survivor?" they'd heard from behind Elysia. It was the Commander. She turned to look at her brother just in time to see a smirk play across his lips, "You're a sorry sight."
Her eyes lowered to a disappointed glare, but Levi on the other hand turned to look at him, the rage still burning through him. He let go of Elysia, marching right up to the Commander and raising his blade toward him. Erwin quickly grabbed the blade, the metal slicing through his fingers.
"Don't!" Elysia called out, grabbing on to him, but he only grabbed her hand to keep her back. With one hand holding back Elysia, and one hand holding the blade up to Erwin's neck, as far as he could get it.
"You smug bastard, I'm gonna kill you. "That's been my goal this whole damn time!" the short man roared out.
The words stung her even though she knew of the truth already, but hearing the man admit it was a different story.
The Commander moved his free hand under his cloak, seeming to reach for something as he retracted his arm and tossed something onto the ground. It was a scroll, a document, tied closed with twine, "That's not the document I used to threaten Lovof," he began to explain, "It's a fake. As for the real document, it should be in the hands of Premiere Dhalis Zachary by now. Your client is finished."
Levi's eyes widened. His friend Yan wouldn't make it without treatment, and he was most certainly finished as well, "Are you kidding me? If you knew that we'd been hired by Lovof, then why the hell did you bring us into the Survey Corps? What's wrong with you?!" he exclaimed, leaping to attack the Commander once again, but Mike had pulled him back. The man collapsed to his knees, but Elysia had come to his side almost immediately. He brought his arm around her gently, tears and sweat streaming down his face as she placed a hand on his cheek and nestling her head into his. His friends were dead, and he was most certainly facing imprisonment for conspiracy.
Erwin looked at his little sister, and the man holding her. He knew that she'd somehow managed to gain true feelings for him in the short time he was there, but he was sure that she would move on if the man were to go away. However, he was very skilled, his innate fighting instinct prevailing above all else, "Stop, don't regret this." Erwin began, causing the man to snap out of his sorrow and look up at him, along with the girl, "If you give in to regret, you'll be left scared and indecisive. Then in your next fight, you'll put your fate in someone else's hands, and you'll be left with a new tragedy to regret."
Levi and Elysia looked at each other for a brief second before returning their gaze to the Commander as he continued, "You couldn't have known how the choice you made here today would turn out, but you can give that choice meaning by using it to inform your next choice." the man finished, taking a step back, "We're about to resume the expedition," he informed them, "Get up, you're still needed. Elysia, compose yourself."
"Yes, sir." she spoke gently, still looking at the man, who was still staring off in shock, "Come on. We can grab some fresh tea when we arrive back home." she suggested, feeling his body release from its tension after a couple of seconds.
"Yes. Thank you." he spoke, turning to Elysia, and grabbing her, holding her there in his arms.
The moment they heard Eren's Titan roar, Levi stopped kissing Elysia, and turned around. She, too, readied her ODM Gear and disconnected from Levi, following him back to Eren.
Upon getting back, They could see that the entire squad was wiped out by the Female Titan. While Eren was fighting the Female Titan, Levi had taken his time to go around and assess how each one of them died, Petra having affected him the most, as she was the second-youngest member of the squad, Elysia being the first.
But just then, the Female Titan took a swing, broke the tree, and decapitated Eren's Titan at the same time. She knelt down, opening her jaw so wide that the skin begun to break, as she took a bite out of Eren's Titan, taking him into her mouth. Mikasa screamed out as it happened, but there was nothing that could actually be done. Mikasa still rushed forward after her, hoping to get Eren back somehow. She sliced her knee, causing the Titan to fall. But was cut off be Levi catching her and telling her to stay back.
"It looks like she bit the entire nape off, it's unlikely Eren survived." Levi explained to Mikasa, but she refused to take that for an answer.
"Levi." Was all Elysia had to say in order for him to know he probably said something he shouldn't have. "I saw her eat him, she was very gentle and no part of him was severed, either."
"I'm just being realistic is all." he explained himself, but that wasn't needed at the moment. All that was needed was to retrieve Eren, dead or alive.